Trainer: 'You have to learn how to talk horse'

August 03, 2012 - 2:00 AM

Mike Soldano, weekend riding teacher and horse trainer at Malibu Dude Ranch, can occasionally be found in a period costume on a film or television set. For instance, he was an 18th-century coachman in a flashback on "Law and Order."

"When there's gunfire, you need experts holding the horses," he says.

Likewise, when Steve Martin was run over by a herd of horses in "Pink Panther 2," Soldano was managing the horses behind a door until the time came to let them stampede over a dummy.

When Joy Behar dressed as Teddy Roosevelt on "The View," and had a real horse as a prop, Soldano advised the producer who was trying unsuccessfully to lead the horse offstage while backing away from it.

"Why would the horse follow him walking backwards? He was amazed when he turned around and the horse followed," Soldano said.

Soldano grew up in Ridgefield Park, N.J., where his father was in the restaurant business. However, Soldano's interest was in the park.

"I watched people on the bridle trail and I was fascinated," he says.

His father began taking him to riding lessons when he was 8.

"I had excellent mentors who taught me to ride in harmony with the horse," he says. "Every person-horse combination has a unique riding style. You have to be flexible and understand what the horse is thinking. You can't expect the horse to talk human. You have to learn how to talk horse."

Soldano spends much of the week in Wantage, N.J., where he leases space for his own horses at SB Training Center and teaches riding, trains horses, and does equine massage.

Soldano also does barrel racing training with Priscilla and Victoria, the young daughters of Malibu Ranch owner Allen Detweiler.

His efforts in equine massage, which he first encountered at the racetrack, began with 500 hours of training in human massage.

"At shows, I'll find a horse that's hurting and spend an hour in their stall," says Soldano. "People think it's a sore foot, but it might be a sore shoulder or other joints or muscles in between. I like to work on the whole body, not just one spot."